A sexually assaulted minor girl from an economically poor family was provided proper treatment at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital only on the third day of her admission on Monday after members of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) staged a road block in Tiruchi.
It was after one and a half hours of the blockade by nearly 100 AIDWA members on the main road in front of the hospital and an hour of demonstration on the hospital premises that the authorities started treating the girl with needed attention, the city unit secretary of the association Ayesha, who led the protest, said. The accused, Ulaganathan (27), a neighbour, had reportedly assaulted the girl on Saturday evening when her parents were away.
Responding to the cries of the girl, neighbours had rescued the girl and handed the youth over to Palakkarai police. They admitted the girl to the hospital immediately. Palakkarai police entrusted the case with the Fort Station All Women Police who registered a case on Sunday.
Upon learning that some relatives of the accused Ulaganathan, a painter residing in the neighbourhood, were coercing the parents of the minor girl, their only daughter, to withdraw their police complaint, the AIDWA has made a representation to the Chief Minister’s Cell. If not for the support from other neighbours, the accused’s relatives would have had their way with the parents who seemed vulnerable, Ms. Ayesha said. Later in the day, an official of the Fort Station All Woman Police had reportedly informed AIDWA that a case against the accused had been registered under strong sections, and that he had been remanded in judicial custody.
The accused must not be allowed to come out on bail, Ms. Ayesha demanded. “An AIDWA delegation will call on Collector Jayashree Muralidharan on Tuesday and submit a petition seeking compensation for the assaulted girl,” Ms. Ayesha said.
In a related incident, a youth residing along the railway station road in Srirangam was beaten up by the people and handed over to Srirangam All Women Police for allegedly sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl. The youth, a painter, is being interrogated by the police.
